Thursday, 19 April 2012

EVALUATION QUESTION - How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Tasks

Here is the basics of what I said...

As a part of the A2 media coursework we were asked to create a music video or horror trailer. I chose to do a music video. We were also asked to produce two ancillary tasks. One of these was a CD Cover and one a poster.

Both my ancillary tasks along with my finished music video have a successful combined brand however one thing that lack is the house style, as although its present it isn’t as obvious as what I hoped for.

The ancillary tasks I produced have a teenage rock essence about them, this links in with the music video.

The main inspiration for the music video and ancillary tasks came from lady gaga. Just like her I wanted my final pieces of work to be unique. This individuality is obvious in all of the finished products which make the combination of them ten times better.

In the making of my music video I used a range of different media technologies to create a professional look and feel to the music video.

The majority of the filming was done with a HD filming camera. The settings on the camera were already set to what we required we did not need to change them. The HD camera I used was easy to work and handle. This made the filming a whole lot easier to do. I also did some filming underwater but since I didn’t have access to a high tech underwater camera, I used an average digital camera with a water prof casing to make it able to film underwater. Both cameras were relatively easy to use and I became accustomed to using them very fast. This enabled me to quickly learn how to pan effectively and use effective camera movements. One thing that was harder to pick up on with the cameras was getting the footage from the camera onto the computers.

The computer I used was an Apple Mac HD computer. The Apple Mac had IMovie already installed on it making it easier for me to get straight on to editing the music video. Some of the shots I recorded were a bit unstable, IMovie allowed me to use the stabilisation tool to make the shots steadier when it was required. Some of the shots had the wrong lighting; I was able to change the lighting using the brightness and contrast tool. To make parts of the footage fit in time with the pace of the music I used the speed up and slow down tool to alter the speed of the footage, which made it fit better in time with the beat of the soundtrack. I also used the filter tool to change the colours in the filming footage; this had the effect of creating a more paranormal feel to some of the shots. The filter also gave the video a more professional look. In-between some of the shots transitions were required. Cross fade was the transition used most in my music video as I felt this was most effective, however some of the shots didn’t require transitions as fast cuts were necessary. I changed most of the saturation in the majority of the shots the make them look more professional.

When I first started media studies in year 12 Photoshop was a whole new concept to me. However the AS media studies allowed me to gain more knowledge on Photoshop and become more familiar with it. This made editing my ancillary task quicker as I didn’t have to work out how to use it. I used a whole range of effects on my ancillary tasks from editing the saturation to changing the sizes of things. More effects were used on the Digi pack then on the poster; this was because I wanted my poster to have a plain feel to it. For my ancillary task I used a still camera to take the photos. Again this was already set to the required settings, making it easier to do.

I used YouTube in the research stage to gather an idea of what music videos should be like. I also used Microsoft power point to produce a presentation on what music video should be like. For the planning stages I created two questionnaires, I produced these on Microsoft word. Questionnaires were a great way to collect the information I needed as they aren’t time consuming and the get straight to the point, this made it a great deal easier to collect audience feedback.

In the evaluation stage of the product I used a video camera to record me answering one of the evaluation questions. I also used slide share to upload my audience feedback presentation for one of the evaluation questions. Blog spot was used throughout all the stages of making my music video. Blog spot has allowed me to become a successful prosumer in the media industry. By using blog spot my work can be viewed worldwide by millions of people. Blog spot also allowed me to view other peoples work which gave me a wider knowledge on the media industry.

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

From the audience feedback I have learnt that although the target audience believe that the music video is successful in looking professional, they are able to point out some weaknesses in the video. This is something that I didn't want to happen, however the feedback enables me to discuss with Amy changes that may need to be made to improve the music video so the target audience prefer it more. One thing we have already decided to change is the lighting in the music video as we feel that this will make the change in time more obvious. Some of the target audience didn’t think that some of the costumes were convincing enough but understood that they were good for the budget we had. They also believed we put a lot of thought into the costumes.

From this Audience feedback it’s obvious that the music video was enjoyed by the audience. One clear problem is that some of the target audience struggled to understand the narrative. This is a major problem that I’m aiming to improve. The most positive thing that came from the audience feedback is that everyone agreed that the music video looked professional. The majority of people asked also believed that there camera angles, shots and movement were appropriate.